Voters in Grand Rapids approved a proposal Tuesday that limits the terms of our elected city representatives. My fellow citizens have in effect restricted my voting rights. Neither of my two city commissioners, Ruth Kelly and Rosalynn Bliss, can run again; my right to vote for them has now been taken away from me. They have both been effective leaders, and now they cannot serve as city commissioners once their current terms expire. Ever. Term limits are un-democratic.

We already have term limits: it’s called “losing the election.” Would that the term-limits proponents put as much effort into attracting and supporting new candidates as they did into passing term limits. But, proponents say, it’s just too hard to mount a campaign against an incumbent, and government needs “fresh faces” from time to time.

I understand that, but it doesn’t seem to me the problem warrants a lifetime ban on public office. So allow me to propose a compromise: What if we require officials to “sit out” a term after a certain number of years? After that, they’re eligible to run again. In other words, let’s limit term limits, so they don’t forever prohibit a talented official from seeking office again.

The amendment to the Grand Rapids city charter approved by the (slim) majority this week states, “No person shall be eligible for election as City Commissioner if they have served as City Commissioner for two terms, and no person shall be eligible for election as Mayor if they have served as Mayor for two terms.” What if we inserted, “unless their second term was followed by a full unserved term” [or words to that effect] ?

Let’s limit term limits, so they give newcomers a fighting chance but don’t permanently ban “the good guys/gals” from public service.

During this year’s Peacemaker Ministries Annual Conference last week, I gave a devotional one morning on “pursuing peace.” The Bible exhorts us not just to “seek” peace but to “pursue” it (Psalm 34:14). The word translated “pursue” can also be translated “persecute” (cf. Romans 14:19; Galatians 1:13), offering an unusual perspective on how zealously we should pursue peace.

I don’t have any dramatic stories about how I myself have zealously pursued peace, but I heard two inspiring examples from conference speakers last week:

On a Sunday in December 2007, a heavily-armed young man walked into New Life Church in Colorado Springs and began shooting. He killed two teenage sisters, then himself. The church’s senior pastor, Brady Boyd, described for us how he later facilitated a meeting between the two sets of parents – of the sisters, and of the shooter–, all grieving the tragic deaths of their children. Apparently the meeting turned out to be very healing for all of them. I can only imagine the courage it took for these parents to meet, especially the parents of the sisters, David and Marie Works—David Works was himself seriously injured during the shooting. They truly pursued peace.

The other story of “pursuing peace” was told by Dr. Valery Shean, an American veterinarian who works in Uganda. She served two tribes that had been at war with each other for decades until she was able to help them make peace. But after about a year of peaceful co-existence, someone from one tribe murdered the leader of the other tribe, and Dr. Shean feared the tribes would resume their vengeful warfare. So she tracked the footprints of the murderer through the bush, to a hut in the other tribe’s village. She knew the young man was inside, and she demanded that he show himself; he refused. So Dr. Shean stayed outside of his hut for two days, pleading with him, and with God, for him to give himself up. She said she was lying prostrate on the ground, praying and fasting, until eventually the young man emerged and surrendered himself to the tribal elders. Justice was done, and the tribes once again live together peacefully.

Most of us will not be called to pursue peace in the wake of the murder of someone dear to us. But we have all been hurt or offended by people close to us. These examples demonstrate that it is possible, with God’s help, to “pursue peace.”